You don’t need an expensive security infrastructure to protect your information and intellectual property. Cloud computing is a very trendy term nowadays in the marketing world. It’s useful to review the definition of the term and to understand its significance for our profession. Although cloud computing broadly encompasses many types of services delivered from the Internet, I’m only discussing those that automate business functions in an immediate and scalable manner. All the other good services we often hear about (e.g., Economics. You pay only for what you consume. MORE >>

Mashups, a common type of app, brings together other apps, data sources and services in unique ways to deliver actionable information or new services that could not have been derived in another way. In the 20th century, traditional marketing typically meant that vendors searched for customers. In the 21st century, a technology revolution (e.g., the Internet, dramatic increases in computing power) has reversed those roles. Customers search for products, services and vendors before companies can reach them. These changes demand new skill sets. Search Engine Optimization. Social Media. MORE >>

Marketers are deluged with information and opinions that purportedly inform you how to do your job better. Although there’s a lot of useful stuff out there, sometimes misinformation and myths masquerade as expertise. We want to set the record straight about some of the common mistakes we’ve seen in the marketing automation space. Lead nurturing requires lead scoring. Some people believe that marketers cannot nurture leads without scoring them. The score itself becomes the only link to behaviors that drive choices of follow-up actions (e.g., which email template to use). Not true! MORE >>

Any such request should contain the following information: • Why do we need to do this? How will we apply this information? Planning and forecasting are critical skills for B2B marketers. These processes are, unfortunately, a combination of science, art and black magic. Nonetheless, we need, on average, to do better. You don’t help your company – or your career – when you ask your management repeatedly for additional funding or make frequent excuses for poor performance. Here are three excuses we think marketers should never use. What will we learn from these tests? MORE >>

Any information you glean from experiments is ultimately useful. Small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are the engine of the current economic recovery in the U.S. As a segment they are growing faster than large enterprises, which means we are seeing commensurate growth in the number of computerized solutions for that segment. Despite that trend, most marketing solution vendors aspire to be purveyors to big (or relatively big) enterprises. Deal sizes, profitability, street credibility and industry prestige drive that behaviour. Try one channel at a time. campaign management. MORE >>